Apple boss Tim Cook says tech has caused ‘great harm to society’ and must be regulated

APPLE boss Tim Cook thinks technology has caused “great damage to society” and wants it to be regulated by the government.

The CEO’s qualms with tech are mainly down to a lack of data protection in the industry.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that technology poses a danger to society[/caption]

Cook listed Europe’s GDPR regulations as a “step in the right direction” and a good example that the US could follow.

He spoke about the future of technology at the Time 100 Summit in New York and said: “We all have to be intellectually honest, and we have to admit that what we’re doing isn’t working.

“Technology needs to be regulated. There are now too many examples where the no rails have resulted in a great damage to society.”

Although he praised GDPR, which is already used to protect peoples data in the UK, he noted that it could benefit from improvements.

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Cook’s main point of contention was with a lack of data protection leaving average people vulnerable to criminals[/caption]

When asked about a study that found people touched their phone screens thousands of times a day, Cook was quick to advise against that behaviour.

He said: “If you’re looking at your phone more than you’re looking at people’s eyes, you’re doing the wrong thing. We don’t want people using their phones all the time. This has never been an objective for us.”

With regards to customer data, the tech boss was keen to stress that Apple is “advocating strongly for regulation” as he does not see another path at this point in time.

Cook also noted that Apple is responsible for improving the data privacy of its own customers and admitted that the government cannot solve all the issues that come with technology alone.

He made it clear that, unlike other large companies, Apple doesn’t have a political action committee that funds political candidates and he refuses to have one because he believes that they shouldn’t exist.